World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz has said the bank wants to take on more responsibility in Africa to help the world's poorest continent climb out of poverty, reports Xinhua.

"The World Bank has a role to play in Africa. I am happy that there is now new latitude in Africa and among African leaders to make progress," Wolfowitz said in his meeting with Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, also the current chairman of the African Union, here Monday.

Wolfowitz is on his first visit to Africa since he took over as World Bank president in June. He was due to leave for Burkina Faso Tuesday and visit Rwanda too. South Africa will be the last stop of his weeklong African tour. 

Wolfowitz came here directly from the London G8 finance ministers meeting that announced Saturday the "100-percent debt cancellation" for 18 poorest countries, most of them in Africa. A lot of that debt, amounting to $40 billion, was owed to international institutions such as the World Bank.

Obasanjo appreciated Wolfowitz's gesture of choosing Africa as his first port of call and said it was an indication that the continent would now receive greater attention from the bank.

"Africa is still handicapped by lack of much needed infrastructure such as effective transportation, communications, energy and even efficient transfer of funds within our countries," he said.